Iceland (day 1)

Land of Fire and Ice

Iceland is a country unlike any other. Glaciers, lava fields, waterfalls, and volcanoes…Iceland has some of the most unique landscapes in the world! We were ready to head back to Europe (yes Iceland is considered Europe). Plus we needed a nature vacation. It checked all of the boxes. We left MSP at 7:25pm yesterday and arrived in Keflavik at 6:35am this morning. Today should be all about taking it slow and getting acclimated to the time zone. But that’s not always our style. 🙂

We booked a time at the Blue Lagoon for 9:00 am – plenty of time to get our car rental and drive there. After 6+ hours on a plane it was heavenly! The lagoon is filled with water they pump from 1 mile underground. It’s 100 degrees when it flows into the lagoon. It was the perfect temperature for the 53 degree morning. We spent 2 hours relaxing, enjoying a face mask and drinking bubbly. Every flight should end that way!

Our hotel is right on the trendy shopping street in Reykjavik. When checking in, I inquired about availability of espresso from the machine I saw sitting at the bar. The helpful man at the front desk told me all about the wonderful buffet they have in the morning – types of food, time it opens and cost. I nicely asked if I could just purchase an espresso. “Of course!” he said. Thinking nothing more about it, we proceeded to checkin. When he was ready to give us our key, he told us he upgraded our room – it’s a little bigger, has a balcony with a view of the church AND it has a coffee maker. Apparently not all rooms do. I’m guessing he was a fellow coffee lover.

We spent the next 2 hours walking the trendy street, walking to Hallgrimskirkja – the iconic church in Reykjavik, and strolling along the Old Harbor overlooking the North Atlantic Ocean. At 3:00 it was time to meet our guide outside the Harpa Concert Hall for our Food Tour.

We spent the next 3 1/2 hours with our guide Disa and 12 others – they were all from the US except one couple was from Greece. We walked to 5 different restaurants to sample Icelandic food. Along the way Disa gave us little tidbits of Icelandic history. Nothing boring, just fun little stories to give us a feel for this country. While we sampled food we heard about other people’s adventures around the Golden Circle or Vik. Most everyone else was nearing the end of their trip.

We’ve been up for almost 24 hours. We were lucky to have an entire 3-seat row to ourselves on the flight over so we had extra room. But I can never really sleep on an airplane. I would love some pointers from anybody who can. Needless to say I’M TIRED! So it’s early to bed for this girl. Jon agrees

Good Night!